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Pundits agree, PM has to go
(Thanks for sending this Gil) Interesting that all of these columnists, except Chantal Hebert, write for newspapers which supported Harper in the recent election:
L. Ian Macdonald, Montreal Gazette: “PM SHOULD HAVE A GOOD LOOK IN THE MIRROR Â IT WAS HIS FAUL.T” Å Harper is already permanently damaged by this self-inflicted wound, but if he allowed the ouster of his government he would be finished as leader of the Conservative Party, which is incensed from the grassroots to the cabinet level at his reckless brinksmanshipÅ Problem solved? Crisis over? Not exactly. Not for Harper, who will never again have a stranglehold over the House or his own party. The schoolyard bully has been called out, and no one will ever be afraid of him again.
Don Martin, National Post: “NO UNDOING PM’S HISTORIC BLUNDER.” Stephen Harper’s increasingly frantic response, including his bizarre Commons allegation yesterday that three clearly visible Maple Leaf flags at the coalition’s signing ceremony didn’t exist, cannot change [the] unfortunate outcome.
Unfortunately for the democratic process, if an infuriated electorate had the chance, it would vote a pox on everybody, blaming a dumb Harper provocation for a dumber Canadian alliance of misfits. One can only weep at the sad spectacle of it all.
Barbara Yaffe, Vancouver Sun: The Harper Conservatives have lost the confidence of both the Commons and the Canadian people, after a monumental stumble rooted in overzealous partisanship. It was a monumental blunder by Harper last week that inspired the current furore. The Harperites alienated the opposition in a minority Parliament by proposing to cut public funding for political parties. Murray Mandryk, Regina Leader-Post: “HARPER HAS BLUNDERED BADLY.” It was undoubtedly Harper’s arrogance - most evident in the recalcitrant move in his government’s recent federal financial update to try and bankrupt his political enemies by slashing the per-vote subsidies given to all political parties - that set off the painful sequence of events leading to what now looks like his government’s demise. It didn’t have to be this way. Had Harper shown one iota of humility or even contrition, his government might have survived. Alas, he and his Conservative ministers remain incapable of such remorse.
Chantal Hébert, Toronto Star: Ironically, it was Stephen Harper who first brought the option of vaulting to power from the benches of the official Opposition to the fore in the early days of Paul Martin’s 2004 minority regime. Even before the presentation of Martin’s Speech from the Throne, Harper had sought out his two opposition rivals to lay the groundwork of an alliance to unseat the Liberals. He would not have entered a formal coalition, but he was willing to advance key priorities of his opposition partners (starting with Gilles Duceppe) in exchange for their support for a Conservative government.
Matthew Brett is the Canadian Dimension weblog manager. The views expressed on this blog do not necessarily represent his own. Read more by Matthew Brett.
